Rust, rust, rust...

[Cadder61]

Got my 75 up on the jackstands to work on the steering cylinder so for the heck of it, pulled a back wheel to have a look at the rear suspension - knew there was some rust but not really pleased with what I found. Everything appears to be coated with the red stuff but most of the rust on the frame and trailing arms seems to be surface rust as i could scratch off without too much issue and reach sound metal. When rapping on the parts they feel solid so I'm hoping I might be ok? Brake lines were pretty bad but have already ordered stainless steel replacements. My main area of concern is where the trailing arms bolt onto the frame - although the rust appears heavier here, it still seems to be mostly surface (metal parts feel solid), however the bolts appear not to be in great shape. (Fortunately, this is the worst area on the car that I have yet found - front end of the frame is much better and the birdcage appears ok as well). Speaking to the C3 experts out there, what comments would you have? Bolt replacement in the near future?

Unfortunately at this time a full off-frame restoration is not possible space or budget wise - what options might I have to keep the rust in general at bay for few seasons until I can do a lift-off? I was thinking about going at all surfaces I could reach with wire brushes etc, cleaning everything up as good as possible and then painting on a rust preventative like POR-15. As the body is still on and some surfaces will not be reachable, am I wasting my time doing this? Any other suggestions? This Vette newbie would certainly appreciate any advice that could be sent this way...

 

[nascar03]

There is a product I have used in the past called RUST-MORT...
It supposedly neutralizes the rust ...! It brushes on
Then you can wire brush a bit and getting some POR15 on there soon after would certainly be a good idea.
This ‘may’ buy you some time here.

Good luck.
Graham

 

[Riley P]

You can also contact @taylorsk8. He is in process of a frame off and had to deal with rust. He may be able to look at the picture and let you know how bad it looks.

 

[gdh]

Here's a good review of the top ranked rust converters:
Best Rust Converters (Aug. 2018) - Buyer’s Guide and Reviews

 

[nascar03]

Great article...
Thanx for the link.

Graham

 

[SlyMart]

My trailing arm were not as bad as yours but I used a torch and a saws all to remove my trailing arms bolts. It was a pain in the butt since I had a hard time cutting the bolt since the rusted shims were in the way. For the surface rust I would take a wire brush on the frame and paint it like I did with my car It's alot of work I know but my car had some rubberise undercoating which was alot more work.

 

[taylorsk8]

Hard to say from the pictures....but...I would guess that you are ok structurally. I would replace the bolts just because they are a relatively easy change to put new ones in (assuming the old ones will come out) just keep track of the spacer positions for alignment. If you can scrape the rust off and give it a wire bruch you should be able to paint POR15 right onto that. Again this is going from pictures. look extra close once to get the rust scraped off for cracks, weld cracks, and real thin spots.

Hope this helps some

T

 

[Cadder61]

Thanks for all the advice, particularly the link to rust converters - all very much appreciated. Did the research and decided to give Corro-seal a try to convert the existing rust followed by a coat of POR15. Found before and after photos in a number of forums, and of course the obligatory Youtube videos; certainly will require some elbow grease but pretty straight forward to do and the results look pretty amazing. I will post progress photos as I go along although the bulk of the work may wait til spring - freezing temps last night and I have an unheated garage.